A threatening sky shows signs of a storm, but the teenagers don’t seem to notice. Thirty minutes before the party is supposed to begin, there is a line of them snaking down North Capitol Street. They’re waiting outside Reservoir Park on this Friday night in late June for some city-sanctioned fun, a weekly summertime party thrown by D.C.’s Parks and Recreation department called Late Night Hype.
The parties started in 2021 as a way to keep 13- to 18-year-olds busy and safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. But in the years since, the increasingly popular events have become an antidote to another issue: “teen takeovers.”
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